Central Bank targets 25% growth in advances this fiscal

Mumbai, May 6: State-run lender

is targeting a 25 per cent growth in advances during the ongoing fiscal, much higher than the

expectations, as it expects economic growth to pick up.

"We expect FY13 to be a better year and have set a target of 25 per cent growth on credit and 20 per cent on deposits," bank's chairman and managing director MV Tanksale told PTI here.

Without divulging the credit and deposit growth for the recently concluded FY12, Tanksale said the fiscal was a difficult one given the slowdown in the economic activity. Sector regulator Reserve Bank of India has said it expects the overall system to clock a 17 per cent growth in deposits and credit for FY 13.

According to the RBI data, the non-food credit growth, clocked by commercial banks stood at 17.1 per cent for FY12, lower than the year ago period's 20.6 per cent. This came on the back of high interest rates scenario, slowdown in advanced economies, which hit the exports and a perceived policy paralysis domestically, which all contributed to the slowdown in investment activity.

The GDP growth slowed down to 7 per cent for the last fiscal from 8.4 percent registered in FY11. Tanksale, however, did not divulge more on the city-headquartered bank's performance or expectation, citing its upcoming earnings announcement which is expected later this week.

He, however, said that the bank will go ahead with its recruitments and plans to hire 3,000 employees across hierarchy during the fiscal.

PTI